I’m always looking for decent shares to add to my retirement portfolio and find these two from the Footsie to be attractive with a long-term holding period in mind.
Healthcare services
In the oil-rich nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the FTSE 100’s NMC Health (LSE: NMC) operates as a private healthcare provider. The company has been growing fast both organically and via acquisitions while throwing out some decent-looking annual advances in the numbers for revenue and earnings.
Over the past five years, revenue has shot up almost 300% and earnings have moved around 285% higher. Over that period, shareholders have enjoyed a more than 400% advance in the share price at today’s 2,491p. The shares did go higher than 4,000 in the summer of 2018 but have since dropped back.
I think the correction is a good thing because it takes some froth out of the valuation. Big growth stories like this tend to attract wide attention from investors, and part of the rise in the stock happened because of a valuation up-rating. Indeed, NMC was priced for growth.
And growth remains firmly on the agenda. City analysts following the firm expect earnings to advance by percentages measured in the high twenties to early thirties this year and next year. Back in March in the full-year results report, chief executive Prasanth Manghat said the company “remains ideally positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in its key markets.”
Meanwhile, we can pick up a few of the shares on a forward-looking earnings multiple for 2020 of just over 15. Given the growth on offer, that valuation works for me, and I’m tempted to slip a few shares into my retirement portfolio to hold for the long term.
Paper-based packaging
In today’s world, it’s hard for me to imagine the demand for paper-based packaging drying up, which is one reason I’m keen on the FTSE 100’s Smurfit Kappa Group (LSE: SKG). The company’s website explains that the firm is a big producer of corrugated packaging, containerboard and ‘bag in box’ in Europe, and is the only “Pan-American” producer of containerboard and corrugated packaging.
Over the past five years, revenue has grown around 15%, but the company has managed to squeeze out a more than 100% rise in earnings. Shareholders have been rewarded for the firm’s success with a lift in the dividend of about 85% in the period. On top of that, the share price trades just over 100% higher than it did five years ago.
In May, chief executive Tony Smurfit said in a trading update: “While there is invariably political and economic risk, we confidently expect to deliver another year of progress.”
We’ll get a further update regarding the outlook with the half-year results due on 31 July. Meanwhile, the shares trade with a forward-looking earnings multiple just over 10 for 2020 and the anticipated dividend yield is around 3.7%. I’m tempted by the stock.
